The small businesses who have been managing their money to the cent forever will prevail. God willing.

it would be a hot commodity in my community

@pal003: If they were making $20/hr, it wouldn't be a problem.

As it is, thanks to the union there are janitors making $78/hr. For sweeping floors.

Yeah, I can see where this doesn't lead to a solvent company...

What the crap... Im so sick of these pricks thinking they deserve money. i mean really what have THEY done for the economy other than make overpriced aluminum cars while being in bed with the oil companies and doung virtually nothing on the fuel efficiency front for the people (long sentence). I mean really these guys must have some balls of steel. I swear this country is so damn backwards. Rewarding the most corrupt. Let the bit*hes go bankrupt im sure it wont hurt me a bit. They havent helped me. How can they all of a sudden hurt me so badly. This country blows now. Gives a while new meaning to the rich getting richer.

NOT!!

let Ford,GM,Chrysler fail and a better way will arise from the ashes.

Who screwed up all of the Credit Markets - the guys making $50,000 an hour on Wall Street.

I'd rather save the auto jobs right now - and get rid of the bankers and traders.

He's completely on the mark on what should be done, get rid of the idiots first and foremost before just giving out money.

That, or let them file Chapter 11 and do it themselves.

While I used to be fond of GM and Ford, I could care less now. Let them and their unions die. Lots of car companies have passed away throughout history. Let these idiots join them. $1 salary, who are you kidding, seriously???

One reason that Ford and GM are making money in Europe is that Europeans are willing to pay money for small cars. Americans equate small with cheap and typically ignore well-equipped pricier small cars in droves. As an example, the Saturn Astra is a version of the rather successful Opel Astra, but all Americans see is that there are cars about the same size that are available for $4k less, not that the Astra is a nicer, better-equipped car than some of the size- and price-competitive cars to which people are comparing it.

Ford is working on bringing some of their excellent European offerings here (Fiesta first, then eventually replacing the hideous lump sold under the Focus name in the US with the much more interesting European version in a few years when it's time to cycle that model line.) Ford's 2009 Fusion Hybrid gets better mileage than a Camry Hybrid and has actually become tolerable to look at, and the Escape Hybrid that Mulally will reportedly drive to the next begging session before Congress has been a very popular vehicle.

GM made some interesting choices in offering less-inefficient large vehicles (hybrid Tahoes and Escalades, for example) and a reasonably efficient overall line. They're working on a breakthrough green-halo vehicle with the Volt, though that's proving to be rather slow to market. They had also worked out deals to get out from under some of the worst of the retiree healthcare costs by transferring that responsibility to the UAW in 2010 (along with a pile of cash of course.)

What threw them off the rails was the drying up of readily available credit. It makes it harder for companies to do business, and much harder for credit-addicted Americans to buy anything. Most Americans can't fathom the concept of even paying off a car they buy on credit before they buy a new one, much less the radical idea of actually saving up enough money to buy the whole car outright. When credit got tight they stopped buying (from Toyota and Honda as well as from GM and Ford.)

The bigger bureaucratic disaster with respect to individual states and automobiles is the silly number of fuel formulations that have to be produced to supply the entire country through the year. Some places have 2 or 3 different formulas (for different seasons) and some have fairly arbitrary required components or mixtures, which contributes to seasonal price fluctuations in the price at the pump.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: Because of poor management. They fought and fought to prevent government 'socialization' of benefits like health care and pensions. The automakers said they would take care of it, that it was preferable to getting on the slippery slope to nationalized benefits. The automakers stepped into it, and didn't have the foresight to see a few obvious things. They chose this way.

Further, the attitude has to be right. These guys are doing it out of desperation to get a handout. Apple wasn't getting any handouts, Steve Jobs was just emotionally and fiscally invested in the company. In all reality, his paycheck at that time wouldn't have broke Apple's bank, but it did allow them to tighten the belt a bit.

If you want to pick on anything, how about that he was gifted a Gulfstream Jet for his "sacrifice" for the company. It was well deserved just the same, though. If someone told me in 1996 that Apple would be ruling multiple industries and have people running in others ten years later, I would've laughed at them before weeping all over my Performa.

@minsky: My thoughts exactly. Look at this way.... Last year, Ford's CEO made $2M in salary with a total compensation of $21.7M. GM's CEO made $1.6M in salary with a total compensation of $14.4M. Chrysler doesn't even disclose CEO pay.

I'm sure they'll manage to scrape by on that $1 annual salary.

CEO Rick Wagoner will take a $1 salary next year, and GM is cutting the top four senior executives will see their cash compensation slashed 50 percent in 2009. Neither Wagoner nor top executives will receive bonuses this year or in 2009.

Wagoner already has seen his compensation cut in recent years and has not gotten a bonus in three of the last four years.

Wagoner had a $1.65 million salary in 2007 and has a $2.2 million salary this year. He took a 50 percent cut in pay in 2006, and his total compensation has been reduced sharply since he took the helm of GM in 2000.

Of course that could always change, and maybe there's something that is neither "salary" nor "bonus", but maybe GM is finally catching on ...

i want to see the actual details of their plan (which were supposed to be released today) - where are they? "we're going to pay our CEO $1, sell our jets/offload leases & magically increase our sales to incredibly unrealistic numbers somehow." ??? i don't see anything comprehensive or sustainable in this plan, & that disappoints me.

i'm beginning to think that we have a shitload of executives out there that really have no freaking clue how to do their job in the slightest. & so, as you pointed out, they spend their time crafting clever ways to pretty much steal money however & whenever possible.

Forget what these clowns make annually! It is chump change compared the money spent on active and retired union workers. I can't believe they are getting a free pass on this one. You want to be competitive in a global economy? Good bye to $100k per year salaries for non-skilled workers. Cut legacy pension funds. How many people of my generation (Gen X) are going to receive cushy pensions with full medical coverage?

My problem is this bullshit semantic wrestling that constantly goes on... It's so clear that the moneyed class doesn't get the damn problem, but still would rather couch it in terms that constantly make it sound better. Whether it's this stupid "I'll take a dollar salary" bullshit or "Lookit me! I'm only flying first class!" or "Retention bonuses" or "it's a loan not a bailout," so we're cool, right?

Folks need to realize that the cards have been called, and that we don't fall prey to spin and pr as easily, so please, call this what it is.

Salary: $1
Stock Options: $1,322,350
"Retention" bonus: $4,405,000
Pretending to make nothing while actually making a killing: PRICELESS.

i understand being pissed off about this, but consider this: it's not entirely their fault. automakers around the world are having problems right now - even the almighty toyota is in a world of hurt. here's some cold hard facts --> [www.bloomberg.com]

let me ask you this: exactly what benefit comes from losing american auto manufacturing? don't the potential local, state & federal property, payroll & income tax dollars ALONE reaped from the largest manufacturing sector in america warrant a short-term investment to keep it going?

Lay me out a roadmap to have every american car get 30+ mpg in 2 years and you can have my tax dollars. Till then, fuck off and die.

@youbastid: Chrystler paid there loan back, tax payers made money.
Still, I think they're better off in bankruptcy. Let them rework their labor contracts and send the unions packing.

Mittens (I love that) promised Detroit that if he were elected he would do away with CAFE standards and there would be jobs for everyone.

Well, he lost and now he rails in the papers about how they should be allowed to fail.

Mittens is a sore loser.

Eye for an Eye, bitch!

"We run our companies into the ground with awful decisions [insert 'CO2 warming is bogus' and 'now we've gotta make cars for hippies' comments from Mr. Lutz] but it's really the unions' fault! We need a bailout!"

Let 'em die like the dinosaurs they are.

note that this is not just happening in the US - EU automakers & chinese automakers are also in line:
[www.iht.com]
[www.bloomberg.com]

korean & japanese automakers have cut production significantly, but there's no indication of government assistance (yet). it's quite possible that they are waiting for the outcome of these hearings before they make a decision.

First, this $1 salary is suddenly a major point in a bailout. Why exactly is it? It is absolutely irrelevant to financial troubles companies are experiencing and has nothing to do (should have nothing to do) with the decision congress makes.

Second, CEOs compensation should be tied up to the profit of the company. With a $1 salary, they will have a major incentive to hide their benefits. The most important goal of CEOs - make shareholders richer - won't be in any way connected to their comp. So they won't do it.

Why don't we drop this $1 bull***t and start talking about the real things in this possible bailout?

I didn't like Mittens much during the campaign season, but if he wants to come take over and fix this shit, I'll gladly change my mind. If he can do what his daddy did, well, "The Man Who Saved Detroit" could be governor for life if he wanted. He's not doing anything now, right?

@bagumpity:
grr. can't spell today. There is only one m in amount.

Re-write that as $0 in COMPENSATION and a statutory (i.e. with criminal penalties if not met) obligation to remit to the US Taxpayers an ammount equal to the sum of:

1. The paper-value gains in existing stock held in the company
2. All dividends disbursed in existing stock held in the company
3. The difference between the strike price and the price at the end of the year of all options granted until the bailout loans are repaid.

Said amount to be remitted yearly or whenever the big-3 piss me off.

Oh...The sacrifices these noble men are willing to make for us!

I am humbled.

one thing about the federal government - they always get paid.

For $1 a week and the requirement that the CEO's company car be an '82 Chevette, a '74 Pinto, or an '85 Dodge Omni respectively, I would.

At the very least can anyone convince the gov't to require the same salary from the financial idiots who head banks up in the bailout???

I know car makers employ a lot of people and we would not like to see everyone of those loose their jobs, but honestly, can they just be allowed to mismanage their companies like that and get help with taxpayer money. Where is the punishment that any other business owner would need to take? Are these multi-million dollar business execs above the law? or above the common sense that rules most everything else? What are the moral standards of these people?

Shake it, baby.

On another note, should the Renaissance Center in Detroit (home to GM) now be renamed the Reformation Center?

Big freakin' whoopdeedoo! Those assholes can easily afford to work for $1/yr. They'll still get plenty of bonuses or whatever euphemistic bullshit term they come up with that equals the word 'bonus.'

The better solution is to get rid of them and start over, at least that would be a move in the right direction.

$1. Whoooppie Dooo.

How much in bonus, how much in stock options, how much in loans that will be totally forgiven, how much in free corporate jet use, how much in hunting/ski/whatever junkets?

Corporate Fat Cats are Fat.

@bsalamon: They're not "bonuses". They're "retention fees".

um yeah... sure... a loan...

its the type of loan no bank would come within 1,000,000,000 feet of. a high risk, no plan, competitors crushing the company, "not a bailout" loan.

@Xerloq: You also need black jeans and white sneakers. But then people will think you're trying to be Seinfeld.

Sure, but then they'll each get a million bucks -- but it'll be called a "Financial Resource Distribution Package" instead of a "salary".